This past year, we hosted live chats with DC's leading mayoral candidates. A lot of you said you found them useful. Next year we'd like to do even more live chats, but we need your help.

Aimee Custis and Jonathan Neeley type during our Muriel Bowser live chat. Photo by the author.

You got to ask questions, questions that no one else was asking, which we posed to Muriel Bowser and David Catania. Many of you said you found out information that helped you decide who to vote for, information you didn't hear elsewhere.

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The software we use for the chats costs money, and so does staff time to actually organize and run them. While there is not a mayoral election next year, there are two special elections in DC and two seats up in Arlington, to start with. Plus, we can talk with elected officials on the future of our area or with area planners on exciting new projects.

If we get enough support from you we, we'd also like to start a series of live-streamed video events with fascinating speakers from around the country to give you insight into the trends in building better cities. Want to hear Harriet Tregoning's thoughts on DC's future? Have a burning question for a Montgomery County councilmember? Imagine getting real answers from a different guest every single month. Who would you like to hear from? Tell us in the comments!

These types of events can get you direct answers from people in the know on what is and what should be going on in your community. Access and answers you don't find anywhere else.

If you think this would be valuable, please sign up for a monthly, yearly, or one-time gift. We can't run this site without your support!

Too many choices?: Could there be too much choice when it comes to schools in DC? Some students are going to 5 different schools in 6 years and schools that don't attract enough students risk losing funding. (Post)

Sidewalks everywhere: Sidewalks have come back into fashion. While building them with new development is easy, retrofitting them to existing streets can be difficult and expensive. (Bacon's Rebellion)

Less crime on Metro: Serious crime has decreased on Metro bus and rail. More vigilant passengers, better deployment of police, and cold weather all helped. (Post)

More and less parking needed: There's lots of parking available at the new McLean Silver Line station, but only for cars. While 600 car parking spots sit empty almost everyday, the 72 bike parking spots fill up each weekday. (WAMU)

Scrutiny for traffic cameras: A new report finds problems with photo enforcement in DC, like not knowing which of several cars is speeding, or what to do when a car's license plate isn't on the car it's registered to. (Post)

Who killed Kirby: Alexandria police think they have the man who killed Transportation Planning Board director Ron Kirby last November and two others: Charles Severance, a 2-time candidate for mayor. A grand jury indicted Severance yesterday. (City Paper)

Hear, hear statehood: The US Senate will hold a hearing on DC statehood next week. While a victory for statehood activists, any statehood measure would have to pass the Republican-controlled House, which is unlikely. (City Paper)

A sign of the times: New York uses different street signs for its historic districts, so why not DC? In neighborhoods like Georgetown, they could also incorporate the historic names of the streets. (Georgetown Metropolitan)

Bike lanes in all 8 wards: Ward 8 should get its first bike lanes soon. The 3 lanes totaling about 1.5 miles will eventually connect to a planned off-road South Capitol Street bike trail. Or maybe they aren't the first after all? (City Paper, Twitter)

Wait, there's an election?: You probably don't know there's an election Tuesday for the Ward 8 State Board of Education seat. The DC Council could have moved it to November and saved about $300,000, but didn't. (City Paper)

A small moratorium lift: New restaurants in Adams Morgan can now apply for a liquor license, though many other aspects of the 14-year moratorium remain in place. The move comes with the support of the local ANC. (DCist)

FBI to... AFRH?: Springfield and Poplar Point are probably out for the FBI headquarters, since GSA now wants even bigger security setbacks than before. The federal government also is apparently considering the Armed Forces Retirement Home on North Capitol Street and the Walter Reed campus. (Post)

Facelift for Upper Marlboro?: Upper Marlboro's business district could get a sprucing up if it wins a grant to improve storefront facades. Business owners would have to partially match any funds that would improve their stores. (Gazette)

Where are the stores?: Manassas Park hopes a recently-built mixed-use building near the VRE station will revitalize downtown, but that will only work if retail stores actually open up there. (Potomac Local)

Filmed in DC?: Can DC's new movie and TV office head woo more films and shows to shoot in the District? Do overlapping federal and local rules make it too daunting? And is it worth it to get into an incentives arms race with other states? (City Paper)

Leave your car at home: Driving and parking will be difficult near the Mall for July 4th. You could try a different spot to view the fireworks, or bike or take Metro. (Post)

Everything longer on the Blue Line: WMATA will add more 8-car trains to the Blue Line. This will make up just a bit for the fact that when the Silver Line opens there will be fewer Blue Line trains. (Post)

Housing beats offices: Most early buildings in the Capitol Riverfront/Navy Yard area were offices, but residential now dominates in more recent buildings as the market has shifted. (City Paper)

How to make housing affordable: A new report identifies six strategies for dealing with the housing affordability crisis, including: Build more subsidized housing, build housing on vacant lots, exempt fewer properties from inclusionary zoning, and "granny flats" or accessory apartments. Which DC's Office of Planning just backed down on. (Post)

What happens in Tenleytown: Why were the Fort Reno concerts canceled, and then reinstated? The Park Police wanted officers at the events, but organizers balked; however, other events in NPS parks do require police. Who's right? (City Paper)

Trashy work: Gray administration officials said they "look[ed] like idiots" after the botched new trash can rollout. (City Paper) ... Arlington's former trash pickup contractor claims cronyism was behind losing the contract to another. (ArlNow)

Senator leaves big shoes to fill: Chuck Colgan, president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, will retire. He pushed hard to get transportation funds (usually for big road projects) in Prince William County, and its clout may now decline. (Potomac Local)

Crosswalk enforcement: Chicago police are doing crosswalk enforcement, but not just to ticket pedestrians like many such stings: they are chasing down and ticketing drivers who don't stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk. (Chicago Tribune)

Trail rebuild gets OK: Plans to rehabilitate the Rock Creek Park Trail passed a major hurdle after clearing environmental review. DDOT now has to finish the design and engineering, both of which are funded. (WABA)

Bike lanes mean more space: Drivers give cyclists more room when passing if there is a bike lane painted on the street. This may help explain why cyclists feel safer with dedicated infrastructure. (Streetsblog)

Bikes are the real menace!: The Georgetown ANC finally supports traffic calming... for bikes. The ANC and Jack Evans want raised crosswalks on K Street to slow bike traffic. Yet 4 pedestrians died in collisions with drivers in the past 10 years. (GM)

Support for stadium?: Will the DC Council support a new stadium for DC United? It's not really clear after a hearing. Many expressed concern over whether DC was getting the best deal in the land swap, but few opposed it outright. Tommy Wells says he'll only support it if there is better transit. (City Paper)

No liquor delivery?: A service that offered deliver liquor to people in DC is breaking the law by taking money for alcoholic products without a license, say regulators, and will stop immediately. Could services like LivingSocial also be breaking the law? (WBJ)

A bigger Circulator?: The Bethesda Circulator might expand from its current 19-stop route. While many have called for expansion, funding and maintaining frequency remain obstacles. (BethesdaNow)

Check out affordable housing: Libraries can often serve as de facto homeless shelters, so now librarians are taking up the cause of affordable housing. Libraries are also hiring social workers and sometimes hiring the homeless outright. (Post)

Finance buildings for green cards: A lot of the financing behind DC's biggest new developments, like the Marriott Marquis, comes from foreign investors who get green cards in exchange for their investments. (City Paper)

Purple Line draws suit: Some Chevy Chase groups will bring a lawsuit to try to block the Purple Line, ostensibly over some endangered shrimp. Even if they lose, they might be able to delay the project and make it cost more. (Post)

Riders needn't be blue over Silver: People who ride the Blue Line between Pentagon and Rosslyn will have fewer trains once the Silver Line opens, but new bus service should ease some of the pain. (PlanItMetro)

(Not) seeing red: A signal problem at Silver Spring and a train malfunction at NoMA snarled the Red Line yesterday. (Post)

Dulles losing out?: Dulles' domestic traffic has dropped as more people use DCA. Officials in Loudoun worry this activity moving east will hurt their economy, but MWAA wants to keep Dulles growing. (WBJ)

Riemer defends Met Branch: Among all the elected officials who weighed in on the EYA project at Takoma Metro, Hans Riemer is the only one who mentioned making sure the Metropolitan Branch Trail can continue through the site. (TheWashCycle)

75 years of pedestrian signals: DC got its first pedestrian signal 75 years ago at 13th and Pennsylvania NW. Since then, pedestrian signals have seen innovations like countdown timers, leading pedestrian intervals, and HAWK signals. (Express)

Mostly pedestrian's fault?: Baltimore County police say that pedestrians are at fault 80% of the time when they get hit. Police are now running an awareness campaign after a high number of pedestrian fatalities, but will the county reexamine its road designs? (WBAL)

More roads not the answer: Why do building bigger roads just make traffic worse? Induced demand, where as more roads get built, more people want to drive on them. But congestion pricing could be the solution to packed roads. (Wired, JK)

Preservation threatens deal: A plan by the GSA to swap a building at 7th and C SW for work at St. Elizabeths hit a roadblock: the DC Preservation League nominated the building for landmark status. Is it worth protecting? What if that imperils St. E's? (WBJ)

More transit to museum: Ever wanted to visit the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles but don't have a car (or don't want to pay to park)? Once the Silver Line opens, Fairfax Connector Route 983 will run there from Wiehle. (Post)

Help us with the links!: Our new link curators Kelli Lafferty, David Koch, and Melissa Lindsjo have been putting together great sets once a week, but we need one more curator to replace Sam Sherwood on Fridays. Can it be you? Email info@ggwash.org!

One way to increase density in our cities is to make living units smaller. But this can present problems when you have to fit bathroom, kitchen, sleeping, and living areas in a small space. But a group at MIT has come up with an innovative solution:

The CityHome puts sleeping, bathing, cooking, and living facilities all in one cube that you use gestures to operate. The set up allows you to condense all these in one compact area, freeing up precious floor space in a small apartment.

Washington area is lucky to have so many transit options. But how they differ? Metro created an infographic that compares the area's current (and some future) rail systems as well as several levels of bus service:

Click on the image for a full-size version. What surprises you about this information?